After nearly a month of travelling to Florida, Alabama and Tennessee, Georgia Highlands College softball is finally returning to Georgia for its official home opener against Cleveland State Community College (Tenn.) in a doubleheader at Stars Field in Bartow County Wednesday, February 26th.

“It’s great to be back on our home field in front of our home fans,” Head Coach Melissa Wood said. “We have a great community and local fan base behind us, and it feels good to play in front of them.”

Following Wednesday’s double header, the Chargers travel to Albany, Ga. where they will open conference play against Darton State College on Saturday, Mar. 1. The Lady Chargers then return home to host USC Sumter (S.C.) for a doubleheader on Sunday, Mar. 2, followed by Southern Union State Community College (Ala.) next Wednesday, Mar. 5.

Right now, though, the focus is on Cleveland State. Brandi Hughes, a freshman from Rockmart, leads the Chargers in the circle with a 2.00 ERA over 35 innings, and she’s kept hitters guessing with 23 strikeouts. Hughes has also allowed just one homerun, an impressive feat considering three of her eight games have been against ranked teams with some of the best hitters in NJCAA.

Offensively the Chargers are led by Kayleigh Medlin, a freshman from Bremen, who leads the team in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging (.444, .464 and .630, respectively). As a team, the Chargers hit .431 with a .589 slugging percentage and three homeruns. Not bad for 14 freshman.

First pitch is at 3 p.m. at the newly renovated Stars Field, and the second game will follow thirty minutes after completion of the first. There will be a full concession stand, trivia prizes and raffle tickets. Tickets for the community are $5 while GHC students, faculty and staff are free.